Fringe's Mad Scientist: The Mind of Walter Bishop

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We take a look inside Walter's diary to see what makes him tick.

By Ramsey Isler

Fringe is often lauded as the second coming of The X-Files, and its addicting, mystery-filled story is considered to be on par with shows like Lost. There are plenty of plot threads surrounding the extraordinary string of strange events called "the Pattern". But whichever way you look, it always comes back to Fringe's modern day version of Dr. Frankenstein: Walter Bishop. He's the center of a number of technologies and plot lines in the story, and he's also the source of many of the show's most perplexing mysteries.

Luckily, the show producers have given us some useful detective tools outside of the show itself. Walter's Lab Notes, released on FOX.com with each episode, are key to understanding some events that weren't quite explained in the show, and they provide a fascinating view into the mind of our favorite madman. We've compiled a list of things that appear to be hinted at in the notes, but as with all things Fringe, the jury's still out on whether any of this is anywhere close to what's really going on.

Click on the pic to look at large versions of Walter's Notes from the first 14 episodes, in our Fringe image gallery

Voices in His Head: The "Second" Walter

Although there isn't much evidence of it in the show itself, a couple of Walter's lab notes imply a disturbing, but not surprising, possibility: Walter seems to suffer from multiple personality disorder.

Symptoms of this disorder (also called dissociative identity disorder) include:

distortion or loss of subjective time

amnesia

depersonalization (i.e. a completely different identity/personality detached from their normal selves)

Walter certainly suffers from the first two symptoms, but what about that last one? Well, some information from the show and the lab notes imply he suffers from depersonalization as well.

In some of the lab notes, the typing style and tone often changes from the Walter we know in the show to a different, angry, voice. In the notes for "The Equation," "Second" Walter berates "primary" Walter for not solving the Equation himself, saying:

"YOU SHOULD HAVE SOLVED IT YOURSELF! IT IS JUST MATHEMATICS, A SIMPLE MATTER OF CALCULATION, NOTHING MORE!"

Second Walter, by the way, types like an Internet troll, in all caps.

Second Walter also mentions the "visitor":

"BECAUSE YOU ARE A BURDEN. AND THE VISITOR CAME AGAIN, DIDN'T HE? ALWAYS PRESSURING YOU FOR THE NUMBERS, THE NUMBERS!"

We'll talk more about the Visitor soon, but this other "voice" in Walter's head is really quite an interesting manifestation. It speaks as if it is aware of all that goes on in Walter's life, but it's not fully in control, at least, not always.

Is this second Walter a threat? Is it even really another identity, or is it just Walter's way of chastising himself? At the moment we just don't know, but it can't be a good sign that a man with such dangerous information appears to be even less sane than we thought.

Continue on to Page 2 for more, including discussions of Walter's "Visitor" and Z.F.T.